I agree with all that other than I would say that

it wasn't just her red lines that led to the backstop issue but the catastrophic decision to agree to split the negotiations into withdrawal, transition and future relationship. As soon as we caved in on that the border/backstop became an issue whereas if we were negotiating it all as one the backstop may never have become a problem.

You and I have discussed this before but we shouldn;t have served Article 50 until we had bottomed out most of these issues and possibly looked to agree a longer period of time so the future relationship could be worked out.

Posted By: Jim, Jan 22, 17:11:29